Gravity
by titanicavatar
Summary: Seventeen -year-old Taichi 'Tai' Kamiya, still grappling with his little heartache, is yearning for a sense of thrill since three years. Little did he know that things have changed, blood was to be shed, and how all of them might be heading down to what was an inevitable death-road.
1. Chapter 1

**GRAVITY**

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Never mind the rest of whatever I wrote. I was just stressed lol.

Some things I'd like to mention: This fic doesn't count the 02 season as canon. So won't be seeing the new kids, maybe here and there sometimes, but that's it.

* * *

 **CHAPTER ONE**

* * *

He didn't know how long he'll be able to hold on. His muscles were stretched to an extent they could snap anytime. His heart was throbbing madly. _It'll end; it'll end anytime now_ , he tried to console himself, to push out whatever remained of his strength. Only some more time for them to climb out.

A second later, the tear-stained face of his sister emerged. She crouched and made the jump. She thudded on the ground and got to her feet again, and stared up, dust-smeared and scratched over and over.

"Let me help you, Taichi!" she cried.

"No, you can't touch it, it'll burn you!" He screamed back, "Only the Fire can possibly restrain..."

His voice dissolved away as Kari's pained face told him she didn't care about the details right then. "But..."

"Hikari," he returned her an affectionate look, almost a smile. It might as well be the last time he would see her, "Go."

The walls were already shaking. He held on. Kari stood against his back, giving him some sure strength. The wind was hard-hitting, and her legs trembled a bit, but she didn't budge.

"Kari, run. Don't do this!" He shouted in protest, "I don't want you to –"

"Yes, I don't want _you_ to die either," she snapped back, albeit too tensed to be actually snappy, "Imagine me facing mum if I ran –"

Just then, Tai saw a redhead climbing weakly to get out. She glanced at Tai – he had never seen her so hopeless before. The walls were shaking harder than ever, so hard that if Sora didn't hurry she'd fall back into the portal and he and his sister would collapse under the debris. Sora stumbled up to her feet, somehow trying to get a grip over the mossy slimy wall, when Tai noticed a huge, gruesome gash running down her leg, bleeding. It gave him chills.

"Sora!" He cried out. His voice was heavy, "You _have_ to do it."

Sora nodded, her eyes brimming with tears. She fell on her stomach. Maybe crawling would help her emerge faster. Her gait left a trail of blood. The sight was sickening. It was like climbing onto a slope through a landslide – with one dead leg – one slip, and she would be falling right to her death.

Tai gritted his teeth. It was a hard sight, but he had to watch her, and guide her until she climbed out of the hell-hole. She needed inspiration. And he couldn't possibly snatch away leftover hope she had.

"Sora, look at me," he called out. Their eyes met, while she kept on crawling, slowly and hopelessly. "Trust me, you'll make it," he whispered amidst the noise, but he was sure Sora would hear it. He doesn't know why. He probably heard a whisper back, "I trust you."

And it seemed to stiffen her resolve. She tried to hurtle out madly, just with her hands, like an insect fallen into the water. Tai felt a tinge of happiness in his sinking heart. He took a deep breath and held on. His arms were numb. His bones might break with the pressure. For just a little bit more...

Finally she was at the edge. The walls had begun to shatter. " _Jump_ , Sora!" Tai screamed. It was a matter of seconds before the portal closed.

Sora closed her eyes and jumped. She fell on her mutilated leg and let out a sharp cry of pain. Kari gasped. It was over, finally. Tai let go of the walls even as the debris began to splatter like rain. Before another thought, he pushed Kari towards Sora so hard that both the girls tumbled metres away. Then –

Snap.

"TAI!"

* * *

 **21st July, 2015.**

 **Present day.**

"Why do high school stories considered bad for the literary elitist's taste? Why are they deemed chick flicks? Even if so, why are chick flicks deemed dumb? Hardly any logic."

"I don't understand you, Joe."

"A certain gender discourse we ought to break, Tai. This whole hierarchical structure –"

"If you don't stop right now, I'll eat your burger too."

Sora pushed past the café door and spotted Tai and Joe sitting extreme to the right. It was a sultry summer day and so it wasn't surprising the café was unusually stuffed. Having the window table helped though. Joe was glued unblinkingly to his laptop, his food untouched while Tai caught a quick glance at her and stopped munching into his burger for a big wave.

"Hey Sora."

"Hey Tai," she looked out for a chair and finally found one.

"Didn't you have a French class?"

"Flunked it, "Sora grinned, and Tai joined in. An exchange of knowing looks followed. Probably he was the only one who understood what a pain in the arse that class was, she thought. She turned to Joe next, who was rather oblivious to the whole conversation, perhaps even her presence.

"What's up, Joe?" she began. Tai yawned. Joe made an "Hmm..." sort of sound, which meant he would process her question later.

"Oh he's writing a novel," said Tai, "It's called _Tri_."

" _Digimon Adventure Tri_."

"Yeah, yeah," Tai looked unimpressed, "Just care to add a disclaimer that it's fictional."

"Of course..."

Tai rolled his eyes, "How d'you medics get the time to write novels? Medicine's too much screwed up already, what with the cutting and stitching up people, I don't get it."

"You don't get what?" came a mumbling sound from Joe.

"The time. And why I am here."

Sora wouldn't deny the same question crossed her mind too. "So why _are_ you here?"

"Because he wants to interview me." Tai grumbled under his breath.

Sora burst into a laugh. "What?"

"Yeah, laugh at me." Tai's reason for annoyance was quite legitimate. His head fell face-flat over his arms onto the table. "Come on, Joe, you can't be serious, you were there the whole time, all the time, then _whaaaai_ ," and there came another yawn.

"The critical details."

"Don't be so depressed, Tai," Sora spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, "These are just small pricks in the way of becoming a celebrity. I can barely stop imagining you walking the red carpet." She burst out laughing again.

"My day will come soon, Sora. And I'll make you pay for this."

"In fact," Joe murmured, never looking up, "I'll need your interview too, Sora. Every one of you."

Her laughter was gone. Tai sniggered.

"Er, I just remembered, I had to talk up about the assignment with Miss Matsuzaka. Tai, care to join?"

"Sure, anytime," Tai had already risen from his chair, "See you later, Joe. Rest of it, tomorrow."

* * *

"Well that was a close brush," Sora sighed in relief as soon as they made the turn at the corridor. Tai grinned.

"So, where're you off to?" He asked.

"Um, I don't know. Where's Izzy?"

"Taken a day off. Wants to stay in his room, probably developing something. Am I the only one who's doing nothing?"

"Oh no no, count me in," she playfully tagged her arm around his neck.

"Yes, you of course, "said Tai, "Lazy git. Didn't even turn up for the soccer practice. What're you planning on becoming now, the cheerleader?"

"I overslept." Sora looked up innocently, "I said I'm sorry."

"Yeah, yeah, you're forgiven."

"Aaaand now that you're the captain –"

"–You won't be given extra privileges, madam. Next time, on time, or you're out." He chuckled even as Sora narrowed her eyes. Then as if lightning struck her, she retreated into a statue, her eyes big and staring right into the wall in front.

"What happened?" asked Tai confusedly.

"Matt!"

Tai looked around to check if she saw him. But no, he was sure there was just a wall, and it didn't look anything like Matt.

"Matt what?"

"I completely forgot!" She seemed to be prepping for a run.

"Huh?"

"See you later, idiot!" Her voice rang through the corridor as she bumped into a couple, clumsily took a turn and disappeared.

* * *

For some reason, Tai's heart sank. And the sinking feeling didn't leave him all afternoon, even as he returned home. He pushed open the door, loosened the tie knot, threw his socks over to a corner and slumped onto the sofa. The house was expectedly empty: his mum was at the office, dad out of the country and Kari gone for the piano lessons. Probably just Agumon clamping down on his old PlayStation. When the sinking subsided, he felt chaos raging inside his head.

 _She didn't even tell me where she was off to. I am her best friend._

 _Matt is her boyfriend._

 _So what?!_

 _Well._

After a while of lying upside down on the sofa, he gathered himself and trotted to his room. Agumon was sitting on the window ledge, so cheerful that Tai was sure he had broken something and hidden it successfully.

"How was today?" Agumon asked.

"It was okay..."

"Uh, what happened?"

"What? Nothing." Tai sounded too defensive.

Agumon looked suspicious, but Tai ignored him – well, more or less. Then Agumon started, "You forgot your Digivice on your study today."

"Yeah, I realised the moment I got to school. Well, I guess it's safer back home. It's been three years and nothing really happened."

"I kept beeping throughout the day though."

Tai's brow frowned. "What, why?"

"No idea."

Tai held the Digivice into his palm and gazed into it. The screen was blank and it looked as good as dead. "That's weird."

"Maybe it was missing you," Agumon joked.

"Yeah, at least something misses me."

This time Agumon came off stern. "Tai, what's wrong?"

"I told you. Nothing."

"Is it Sora again?"

"What?" Tai looked up in surprise. His collar went hot and he felt himself going deep maroon.

"I thought so." Agumon sighed.

"You thought what, Agumon?" Tai raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing."

"Spit it out."

"Tai," Agumon looked concerned, "I thought you're over it by now."

Tai gave up. He got to his feet and began changing into his pyjamas. "Yeah, "he said dismissively, "You'd be _so_ over it if you practically see her all the time and she plays in your soccer team and she calls you her best buddy and she dates your best friend... remind me again, why am I ranting?"

"Look, why don't you tell her –"

"It's not like I haven't tried. But it doesn't matter. She loves Matt. And she is happy. Which is more important."

"But Tai –"

"More important." He asserts again, his words having a tone of finality; he didn't want to continue with the subject anymore.

* * *

Night came in early. Tai turned the other side, almost asleep. The faint glow of the moonlight creeping through the window and the garden branches made for odd shadows on the wall. He blinked sleepily, rubbed his eyes and tried to go to sleep again, and slowly drifted into random thoughts...

Of course, Sora's happiness meant the most to him. He did try to find some for his own – he really did – but something didn't work out. He was grumpy for a while, yes, confused about the growing bulbous hormones, adolescent angst and the lack of a new adventure, perhaps. Perhaps, he had a thing for saving the world, who knew. Perhaps being inches from death was the only eligible distraction from that nasty heartache. But the Digiworld seemed to be at peace, his own world seemed to be at peace – everyone seemed to be at peace.

So he decided to let go of it. All was well, he made believe. He stopped being awkward around Sora, something he had begun since she had confessed to Matt. And they went back to their old ways. Sora was relieved, and happy. He never wanted her to feel guilty about her choices. Needless to say, her happiness meant the most to him.

 _Tap tap tap._

He frowned at the sound. He was sure he imagined it. He looked around. Everything was still, except for the sleeping Agumon's heaving belly.

 _Tap tap._

He shot up straight. He couldn't have imagined it the second time.

He listened carefully. His Digivice beeped all of a sudden. He jumped in alarm, then clutched his heart and sighed in relief. But wait.

 _Tap tap tap._

It was coming from the backyard, sounded like a biggish animal walking. A wolf maybe? Although the idea was slightly ridiculous, it wouldn't hurt to check.

 _Beep beep beep beep_. The Digivice went louder and louder. This was what Agumon was talking about.

"What's up with you?" He clasped the device, even pressed all the buttons one after one. It kept on beeping irritatingly. He wondered whether it was malfunctioning. Can something as powerful as a Digivice malfunction?

Just then, the corner of his eyes caught a white flash from the backyard. He turned sharply. It felt like someone flashed a camera at his ear. He screwed his eyebrows. Something was definitely going on.

He shoved his Digivice into his pocket and slid open the glass door. Agumon was still snoring. Without another sound, he tiptoed out of the apartment. He looked around for his slippers, but gave up after a second of futile search. Up there was something more important. Was it a thief? Was it even human? He stepped into the complete darkness. The soft grass felt cold under his naked feet.

The grass was stiffer and uncomfortable amidst the bushy brambles. He peeked in, and kept walking. The Digivice kept beeping in his pocket: the only sound in the eerie quiet.

"Anyone there?" Tai finally lost his quota of patience and called out.

Expectedly, no answer came.

Another _tap_.

"Show yourself!" Tai demanded, his temper rising. He ran further into the bushes.

At that moment, he thought he saw something. The creature – or a human being – was undefined in the dark, but he could make out the long hair and round spectacles-like eyes that gave a sharp glare once in a while, or wait, were they spectacles? He took a tiny approaching step; the creature backed off. It pulled out something like a gun – or a hose pipe – he wasn't sure. It readied the weapon at Tai.

"No, _don't_ ," Tai held out his hands in defence, which he knew could never be enough if the creature fired, "I can help you."

The creature didn't lower the weapon but seemed to reconsider. Tai noticed his Digivice had stopped beeping, and all there was left, was a moment of silent tension.

But then the creature fired without warning. Tai screamed pre-empting his death, but it wasn't a bullet – just another blinding flash of light. However, he was knocked to the ground and before he could gather his senses again, the creature made for the run – almost through him – as if it were a spirit, or some superfast ninja usually staple of urban myths.

"What's going on? Tai?" Kari's voice rang in the dark. Tai brushed off the dust and trotted out of the bushes suspiciously.

"What's going on?" Kari asked again, sleepily, "I thought I heard you scream."

"Yeah," Tai seemed lost, "I encountered something."

"What was it?"

"No idea," he said, "But it was decidedly odd. Did you catch a flash of light?"

"No," Kari looked confused.

"No?"

"No, Tai."

"That's weird." Suddenly his eyes went to his deflated pocket. "Where's my Digivice?"

Kari looked on and Tai panicked. "That thing took it, I'm sure, that thing ... Oh no, and it took it, shit, what now –"

"Tai, you perhaps dropped it in the bushes."

He thought hard; after all he couldn't remember if he did take his Digivice out of his pocket.

"We can search it in the morning. It's impossible to locate anything in the dark," sighed Kari, "Let's go back."

"It's stolen," Tai said firmly, "And I'm gonna know why. I shouldn't have fallen for the trap."

* * *

 **Okay guys, Digimon Adventure holds a special place in my heart and when I heard it's coming back with the original eight Digidestined, you know I hyperventilated so much I died and now I'm a ghost having trouble with the keyboard. This fic is my tribute to my childhood days, and the characters who have always meant so much to me.**

 **PS: I love Tai.**

 **PPS: That good ol' bastard looks amazing in Tri. *drool***


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

* * *

"Someone stole your Digivice?"

Izzy whispered a bit too loud in shock, his face half-hidden by his chemistry textbook. His eyes, which almost puffed up with boredom as the dreadful class dragged on, had suddenly turned all googly in surprise.

Tai exhaled. "Yes." He had reiterated the incident almost seven times by now. "It looked like it had come down for that, and I let it."

"I don't think so. There's nothing wrong in being inquisitive, Tai."

"I wasn't being inquisitive, just cautious."

"And what was the light for? Just to stun you for a while?"

"I guess." Tai scribbled randomly into his own book.

"Okay, so a digimon which could practically pass through you, and had glasses for eyes and long hair," he pulled out his laptop and typed into it, "Well, let's see if we can find some matches."

Izzy pressed enter, and there appeared a few prototypes, but none of them looked like the one Tai butted heads with. "But what if it's not a digimon?" He asked.

"A human spirit then? Are you serious, Tai?"

"No... Well, I don't know. We don't have a starting point here."

"We'll find one, I'm sure. Now, did you search the place?"

"Yeah," Tai flicked a page, "Kari and I did some searching, but it was mostly futile."

"Hmm," Izzy screwed his brows over the information "Well, we can search the place again, more minutely."

"Yeah, we can search the place ten times over and still find nothing," said Tai disappointedly, "Someone doesn't want Agumon to digivolve. Does that mean some trouble is incoming?"

"I don't know Tai, but I think the consequences might be much worse than that. A Digivice is a very powerful thing. It was uniquely yours. Now messing with it might not just affect Agumon, but you."

"Could that turn Agumon against me?" Tai's heart gave a throb.

"Maybe."

"Then we ought to find it."

"We definitely do. Just pray whoever's taken it, doesn't know what to do with it."

Tai gazed into his textbook without trying to read it. He could pray so, but he knew to no avail. That thing certainly knew what it had come for, he could bet. His throat dried up. He should've warned Agumon in the morning that someone might just try to mess with his data. But how could even that help? Wouldn't both of them stand powerless before it? _Whoever that long-haired thing was, it was going to pay_ , Tai gritted his teeth.

"Hey, Izzy," he then started, in an altogether different tone, "Have you seen Sora? Her chair's empty ever since I arrived."

* * *

He could swear he didn't go looking for her.

Tai cursed himself under his breath. His priorities were messed up at the wrong time. School had ended and he ought to resume his search for the mysterious thief. Instead, he was sauntering from corridor to corridor aimlessly; his mind playing on the empty adjacent chair in the class, against his will.

She arrived to the school with him. Then where did she go? Abruptly fallen sick? Working up about something, er, her assignment probably? What could possibly make her disappear for the whole day? His mind went even as far as into the territory of the ridiculous. Kidnapped? Not completely implausible, given what happened last night.

He was a tad worried as well. He scrolled up the message thread on the phone. She hadn't replied to any of his twelve "Where are you?"s since the morning. He sighed and sent another.

His phone gave an almost instantaneous beep.

 _ **Ground floor corridor. In front of phy lab.**_

Something fist-punched in the air inside him as he set for it. He wasn't too far – just two more turns – and would've found her anyway. He jogged to the spot, his stomach leaping, and then came to an eventual pause.

There she was, sitting on the bench beside the laboratory door, all by herself. Her bag lay at her feet, uncared for, and she had buried her face into her palms. She noticed him and pretended to be drowsy, rubbing her face, sniffing. Tai treaded slowly. She glanced up and shot him a hesitant smile. Her eyes were red and streaked with tears in spite of her attempts to hide them. Tai stood frozen for a while, not knowing what to do.

"Hey." She croaked.

He sat next to her. For some reason, he didn't feel this the right moment to ask what had happened.

She didn't speak anything either. After a moment, she rested her head on his shoulder, blinking sleepily.

"What's up, buddy" Tai said softly. She shook her head, seemingly lost in thoughts.

"Did you catch the match last night?" Tai began, watching carefully to see if it made an effect, "Germany totally killed it –"

"We talked about this in the morning, Tai," Sora still sounded depressed.

"Yeah, we did," said Tai, scratching his head, slightly goofy, "Okay. I'm pathetic. I practically can't think of anything to cheer you up."

Surprisingly, _that_ made her laugh. "You're so stupid," she smacked him lightly on the head, "and thinking about last night's match will only make me sadder." Tai couldn't help but notice how her voice broke midway.

He squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. "What happened, Sora?"

"Disagreements," she sniffed, "You'd call them silly."

"You can try me."

Sora hesitated. Tai got an inkling of what it was all about.

"Did he hurt you?" His brow frowned, as he mentally flipped through weird images of Matt screaming at Sora and found his temper rising.

She shook her head again. "It's not that. Matt has never hurt me. Not intentionally at least."

Tai's temper deflated like air out of a punctured balloon. "Then?"

"It's just that... he's distancing from me. It's started abruptly. I don't know why, but... I don't know. And here I am, since the morning, contemplating my life, and so distracted I'm sure I'll fail this term," she sobbed into his shirt. It was hard enough for him to watch her cry, even as he patted her on the back.

"You see, Tai, it's silly. I know how hilariously silly it is. But it's just that I don't have a lot of people in my life. I don't have dad. I don't have a sibling. It's just you and mum and Matt. And they don't even think about how I feel."

"I'm sure they do, Sora," he said, "I know it means nothing right now, but everything will be okay."

She sobbed even harder. Tai felt helpless.

"And as for Matt, I'll talk to him," Tai continued, "I'll make sure things are okay. I – I don't know what else to say."

"You don't need to say anything, Tai. Just be with me. Even if it's undue of me to ask."

"I will. Always."

She half-laughed. "I feel so emo right now."

"You wanna blow your nose on my shirt?"

"You boys are disgusting." She giggled, "It's raining. Oh _fuck_."

Tai raised his eyebrow at the dropping of the f-bomb, grinning sheepishly to himself. "Come with me."

"Where?"

But Tai had already clasped her hand, and was pulling her down the stairs. There weren't many and Sora hopped a few. Soon they were in the middle of the playground, the rain pattering on their heads. He grinned goofily. Something was on his mind.

"Tai, for God's sake, it's raining cats and dogs –"

But Tai was busy balancing a stray cola can on his foot. He had a smug, typically-Tai expression. He challenged with a wink. "C'mon, centre forward."

" _Now_?" Sora tried to imply how preposterous this seemed, however, couldn't help but smile. She consciously looked around – of course, the school had ended long ago.

"Why, chickening out, grandma?" he teased.

"Grandma?" Sora gave out a dramatic delirious laugh before she sharpened her gaze and tackled him. The can, of course, couldn't bounce like a ball, but it was fun nonetheless. They dribbled it about, and he finally let her kick it into the makeshift goal in the bushes.

"Yes!" She raised her fists into the air and jumped. She was smiling again. Sincerely. Tai wiped the water off his face, and smiled back. His happy-go-lucky- jumping-around, feisty soccer girl is back.

Then, to his surprise, she hugged him.

"Where would I be without you, Tai."

* * *

 **It's a shortie, I know. But writing Taiora is... :')**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

* * *

It was a harsh, rainy night. The pavement glistened while a plumpish middle-aged man strolled along, pulling his overcoat tighter towards his body. The cold was abrupt. The morning saw a blazing sun. He breathed out some fog, and then glanced about stealthily. He hardly needed to be secretive; the midnight crowd in Tokyo never bothered to know where anyone was off to. There were gambling sessions all night at the by lanes near the bridge, and he had always suspected that the grocery shop beside the post turned into an illegal drug centre by the night.

He mustn't talk about crime in a bad light, as if he hadn't witnessed enough crimes in his own lifetime. Now, the place he was off to was particularly odd. He stood at the highway divider and gazed up – it was an at least twenty-storeyed building under-construction. He wondered whether the lift's been made yet, or he needed to use a ladder. Jabbering curses under his breath, he set forth. Boss never liked to be kept waiting, despite her eccentric decisions.

To be frank, he had never seen his boss properly. At first, it was a tall, dark man with a moustache hiding half his face and a hat hiding the rest, in all the meetings. Then it turned out the hat man was just a mercenary. That was never officially confirmed though. And now, there was this woman who preferred to remain in the shadows – her round sunglasses throwing in reflections in the dark, and long hair giving off a blue sheen. God knew what made her wear sunglasses even at night. Not to mention, she had a flair for keeping his family hostage – countless times he had to work without consent – and had a rough idea about how dangerous these people could be if someone dared to cross them.

He crossed the road and found a temporary construction elevator after making a few rounds. Besides which was a bench, and there sat a sturdy-looking man, smoking – a mechanic by appearance. He wondered whether or not to ask the man about his boss's whereabouts, but help came early.

"Seventeenth floor," the mechanic said, puffing his cigar. The mechanic gestured him to hop onto the elevator – which frankly looked like a vertical ropeway with a very, very unstable frame.

Reaching the seventeenth floor seemed to take ages. Finally the elevator halted and he jumped out as fast as he could – he had never feared more for his life than he did in the last ten minutes.

Expectedly, his boss stood with her back turned, staring at the cityscape. Her hair gave off that familiar blue sheen.

" _For Christ's sake_ ," he started, a little nervous, "I thought you realise such meetings should be more held in public places, but then again, had it not been your touch of drama –"

"Talk business, Wilson."

"Yes, alright. Just keep it under control. Deaths of this many children is not appropriate by any means –"

"Are you refuting the plan, Wilson?"

"No, no," he hesitated, "I just requested to exercise caution."

"Peace doesn't come until the blood of the enemies touch the ground."

"The children aren't our enemies."

"I know. Simply standing at the crossfire. What a shame."

"Then?"

"I shall deal with them in my own way."

His throat dried up.

"But before that, Wilson," his psychopath boss spoke; he hoped he had mistaken that glee in her voice, "Find and target this girl, living somewhere in the city. I need daily surveillance, whereabouts, everything."

"The name, ma'am?"

"Hikari Kamiya."

* * *

"Tai is gonna kill me." T.K groaned on the other side of the line.

"Tai always saw you as his little brother, T.K. I'm sure he won't – er, kill you for this," Kari grinned awkwardly.

"Okay, then maybe beat me into a pulp I guess," he let out another ghostly moan.

"Oh you rectal worrywart Teeekaaaay..." she sang into the phone, almost holding it upside down like a microphone.

"That was a hilariously disgusting insult," laughed T.K, "now if we start talking in sexual terms even before our first date, then your brother is _definitely_ gonna kill me."

"That wasn't even sexual. Where are your imaginations flying?" She blushed into a light shade of pink.

T.K was positively embarrassed. "Um, er," he stuttered, "Um, Patamon is flapping his wings way too hard near my ears. He's probably hungry. Can't hear anything - K'bye, Kari!"

"Bye, T.K."

Kari flipped her phone on the bed, and turned to her computer. She still had an assignment to complete. She was in the final year in middle school and life was a tough slice of bread.

Well, in the midst of homework and hell breaking over together, there was always this silly thing about T.K asking her out that legitimately brought a smile to her face. And she couldn't help but giggle, whether it was thinking back T.K's face which flushed red like a pumpkin, or over-thinking about Tai's reaction to the news of them getting together. She was ninety-three percent sure Tai wouldn't kill him. And hopefully Tai wouldn't receive a heart attack either.

"New mail," she mumbled, and clicked it open. But it didn't turn out to be the reference notes Daisuke was supposed to send her.

 **From : secretkeeper**

 **To: karikamiyalight**

 _ **Hello, Kari Kamiya. I'm lost. Can you help me?**_

Kari was sure she had never heard a domain name like that before. Did she unknowingly sign up for some chatroom session?

Confused, she typed.

 **From: karikamiyalight**

 **To: secretkeeper**

 _ **Hello. How can I help you?**_

And then pressed send. Immediately another mail was received.

 **From : secretkeeper**

 **To: karikamiyalight**

 _ **I am a Secretkeeper digimon. I've got some leaked information that you and your friends could be attacked anytime. I needed to pass it to you. I am lost in the internet and some corrupted data is trying to get to me. Can I reside in your cache? Please help me.**_

Her brow frowned. Attacked? What did it mean? She began typing again.

 **From: karikamiyalight**

 **To: secretkeeper**

 _ **You can reside in my cache, Secretkeeper digimon. Can you tell me who might be attacking us?**_

She sent. Another instant mail popped up.

 **From : secretkeeper**

 **To: karikamiyalight**

 _ **I am not sure, Kari Kamiya. They might be humans.**_

 _ **Also,**_

 _ **Kari Kamiya, you must not tell anyone about me. I'm a Secretkeeper digimon, and you are my Secretkeeper. If you tell anyone about me, you will break the bond and I shall be deleted forever.**_

Kari nodded.

 **From: karikamiyalight**

 **To: secretkeeper**

 _ **OK, Secretkeeper digimon. I shall not tell anyone about your messages. I might as well delete them from my computer.**_

Beep, and another new mail.

 **From : secretkeeper**

 **To: karikamiyalight**

 _ **Thank you, Kari Kamiya. Do not delete my messages. I am in your cache, remember? You might put a password instead.**_

 _ **Thank you again, Kari Kamiya. I will disappear now. You and your friends will keep safe.**_

Before Kari could ponder upon the exchange of mails, Tai stomped into the room with a large burger in one hand and Koromon in another. Kari hastily minimised the tab. Tai turned a sharp eye on her.

"Why did you close it?" He asked suspiciously, his eyes still narrowed at her.

"Uh?" Kari grinned nervously, "I – I just finished my assignment, what else am I supposed to do, Tai."

Tai didn't look wholly convinced. But then Koromon hopped onto the window sill and Tai focused his thoughts around the burger.

Kari needed to tell him about the potential attack though. But how would she explain it? How did she get to know? She racked her brains. _Think fast, Kari_.

But the night went through, and most of it was in vain.

* * *

The next morning was a Sunday morning. And Tai woke up with a start.

"Okay, who's birthday?" He scratched the back of his head.

The other six and her sister (and their digimons, of course) sat either circled around him or huddled in the room somewhere, their faces all so very bright and cheery, and staring at him as if they just performed a requiem that brought him back from the dead. Tai found the situation scary and amusing at the same time.

"Alright. I can't take your saccharine faces anymore. What's going on? Did I die?" He asked again.

"We've come to help you," said Joe, positively beaming.

"Joe, how's your novel going?"

"Oh, it's on hiatus. I miscalculated the study time I'd get if I kept it as my side occupation, given my exams are coming and –"

Matt cut him off midway, "We've come to help you find your Digivice."

Tai felt as though he had seen Matt after ages. Matt didn't appear to be too healthy; he had slight dark circles that made his handsome brooding face look perpetually depressed. (Sora stood near the window and seemed to have found the love for nature, effortlessly ignoring the discussion when Matt spoke.) Tai did _need_ to talk to him. He couldn't just watch both his best friends wasting themselves away over petty things. Right now wasn't a very good time of course, too many people around would make Matt pull his defence up.

"Why this early in the morning though?" yawned Tai.

"Morning? It's 2 o' clock, doofus," Mimi seemed to have taken offence, "There was this amazing sale at the city mall, but then I heard this happened..." her voice reduced to a low murmur.

"This already happened back two days," Tai buried his face into his palms and groaned.

"So much for gratitude, Tai."

"You really buy stuff from the sale? Aren't sales supposed to be upon the leftovers?"

" _Tai!_ "

"Okay, I'll shut up," he chuckled, "Izzy, tell them about the plan we made last night while I brush my teeth and get ready for battle."

* * *

"Okay, plan A," said Izzy as he pulled out his laptop, "First we assume that the Digivice is inside the city. What I've been trying to do since yesterday is connect to Tai's Digivice. But it seems to have lost all connectivity. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's out of reach. I seem to catch occasional blinks of signal. But before I could locate, it's gone."

"So what do we do?" asked Sora.

"So we divide ourselves in groups of two and ask people around the city if anyone's seen the thing that matches Tai's description."

"That's _it_?" Matt looked unimpressed. "And what's plan B?"

"Er," Izzy grinned, "I codenamed our only plan as A." Matt raised an eyebrow so high it disappeared into his gelled hair.

"Well," said Tai in a matter-of-fact tone, his arms akimbo "Didn't expect it the hard way, did you? I'm open to suggestions. That's all we could come up with."

"It's not that. This way, it'll give a lot of time to the perpetrator to do whatever it wanted."

"Well, I agree with that," nodded Joe.

"That does make sense," Izzy mumbled, "But then Tai's right. What else can we do?"

"Are you sure they haven't destroyed it?"

"I don't think so. Why steal it at the first place?"

"Yes," said Tai, "It totally caught me off-guard. Why not destroy it there and then?"

"Hmm," Sora scratched her chin, "Let's begin ASAP. This might take weeks, that too if we're lucky."

"Bottom line is, I'm doomed," Tai groaned, "Hey, you two lads – Kari, T.K! What're you two muttering in the corner? We've work here."

T.K was taken aback even as a pink blush fell on his face. Kari looked rather lost. Both slid back on their feet from their comfy talking spot on the window sill.

"Kari?" Tai waved in front of her face to break the trance.

"I – I don't think it's a good idea to go out around the city like that," she murmured, staring at her feet.

"Why not?"

"I actually got a feeling – kind of an intuition rather – you might be attacked, you know. I mean," she paused and searched for words, "I mean, maybe it's a trap to lure you all, who knows."

"Kari," Tai put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I think you're thinking too much into it. We've faced it all. What can happen?"

"Umm, yeah. Maybe you're right, brother. Just don't call for extra trouble."

"Well, he seems to have a knack of doing just that," snorted Sora.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

* * *

Any of you guys seen anything that looks like this?"

The two boys on the bike looked up with blank faces, scratching their chins at the picture of the digivice that Matt held out. Tai sighed in defeat; these were the twenty-second and twenty-third persons of the day who gave them a what-is-this-alien-thing vibe. Matt crossed them and went ahead; Tai nodded in thanks at the boys and jogged after.

On another note, he needed to do _the talk_ with Matt.

This was going to be awkward. Talking about feelings and relationships to Matt had always been intimidating. Tai knew how deeply Matt cared, but as soon as anyone made a slight mention of it, he'd shove his hands in his pockets and walk off in a different direction.

"Um, hey," Tai hesitated, "Are you eating well?"

Matt glanced at him sideways, "Hmm."

"And, how's the band going?" Tai was internally cursing himself. It was as lame as lame could get.

"We split up into a new band," he said. Did he sound genuinely interested?

"Ohhh." Tai hoped that didn't sound like an overreaction.

"You okay? You sound nervous. Is anything bothering you?"

Damn it. That was supposed to be Tai's line. He grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Ah, no, actually I..." his mumbling died down to an inaudible volume. So Sora and Matt were at odds and upset. But to think about it, he probably wasn't the best person to give them relationship advice. Should he just back off from stepping into that particular muck and let them be?

"What, Tai?"

"Uh, I uh - I talked to Sora." He had done it. He could possibly a dig his own grave at his position and lay there forever.

"I see."

That was it? No, no. Tai began, "I just -"

"I'd have asked you to stay out of it but in any case you know us better than we know each other."

He blinked confusedly even as Matt gave him a ghost of a smile (it was a smile, right?), before he stuttered, "Huh? Yeah, hey - listen. I don't mean to - you know, intrude into your privacy... I don't like how you both are hurting. So fix it, you know? Communicate."

Matt exhaled, "Easier said than done, Tai."

So Matt was hell bent on not sharing. Fair enough, Tai realised, there was no point further digging into the subject. The day had been a waste anyway; not a single green signal about the lost digivice. Tai tried to bring himself back to the more pressing issue: if they didn't find the damned digivice within the next few days, he'd be done for. He wondered if he should've brought Agumon with him. Although he was certain the digimons were safe within Izzy's firewalls, what if someone tried to... kidnap him? After all it made sense, what purpose could the digivice serve without the digimon?

"Ssshhh," hissed Matt.

Tai raised an eyebrow, "I didn't say anything."

Matt stuck close to him and breathed a raspy whisper, "Pretend a conversation. I think we are being followed."

Tai's senses flared up. He knew he couldn't just turn around; that would alert the stalker. He casually put an arm around Matt and started with an animated tone, "Ah, well. School project's going awry. Let's just ask Izzy for more blueprints from his laptop, why don't we?"

He looked up at Matt. Did the code work? Did he still think they were being followed? Did the stalker buy that? Matt seemed slightly impressed. "My treat for the lunch. I need to find an ATM though. I'm out of cash."

So that was the plan. They'd call Izzy and ask him to let the digimons out, and the most convenient pathway for them would be an ATM machine. That was nicely done, by the way.

It was dead afternoon. Fewer people on the roads, and even fewer open shops. The area was unfamiliar to them, so it would take them some navigating to search out an ATM. In the mean time, they needed a way to stall the stalker from attacking, if it were to. Matt hissed again, "What's the plan now?"

"If I had my way I'd turn around and punch."

"... Okay, Tai, _no._ "

"Thought so. Let's just keep looking for the ATM. If we're lucky enough -"

Both of them were frightened out of their wits as Matt's phone rang out in full volume. Tai peeked at the screen - it was T.K - all while he sniggered at what was possibly Matt's new musical obsession. The blond guy punched him aside even as he put the phone against his ear, "Yeah, T.K. What happened - what? Okay, okay, just bring her home. We're coming back."

"What happened?" teased Tai, "Wham broke up and nobody told you?"

Matt was unfazed. Something seemed wrong. "It's Kari. She fainted in the school hallway."

* * *

Kari wondered how long she'd be able to prevent this investigation with reasons as flimsy as feigning unconsciousness. Not to mention she already felt guilty about it.

"Hey," came a familiar voice.

She blinked weakly. It was the Takaishi household. Did she not realise being brought here? Did she actually faint? She had no idea. She looked around; T.K stood at the corner of the room in a splitting image of his elder brother, arms folded and expression unreadable. Her heart throbbed in fear; did he see through her doubts? T.K would be the last person she'd want to dig further into this; she knew he could break her guard more easily than she could even imagine.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She nodded.

The next thing she knew was the hurried sound of footsteps, an urgent knock on the door and her brother ramming into the scene, panting for breath. He came into a sudden halt at the sight of her, palms on his knees, heaving a giant sigh of relief. "What - what had happened," he uttered in between his shallow breaths.

Her insides churning into a guilty knot, she tried to put out a coherent answer, "I think my blood pressure dipped."

Tai reached out to check her forehead, "Do you have a fever?"

"Nah. I'm fine now, really. Just don't tell mom."

Kari was taken aback by what was a sudden whoosh of wind, that turned out to be Matt thunderous arrival and flinging of his fist at her brother that almost knocked him over against the wall. He roared, "You dumbass!"

"Matt!" T. K chastised him even as he ducked out of the way, a little confused.

Tai glared up, rubbing his face, "What the hell was that?!"

Matt seemed to be in a fit of rage. "Could you listen to me just for once? I asked you to stop a hundred times, but no, you had to have your way!" He went ahead and grabbed Tai's collar before anyone could make a move, "Whoever was following us, you led them straight up here. Who's going to take responsibility for that?!"

Kari moved her arms around her sides. It felt as if her insides had disappeared and all that was left was guilt. She was certain that her vague plan would stop Tai and everyone else from venturing into danger. To be honest, she'd have told them the truth, but if the Secretkeeper thing wasn't lying, she couldn't afford to risk its existence either.

Had she inadvertently brought them more trouble? No, that couldn't be. Whatever that was, would've attacked the two of them. Now there were four. They had a better chance at winning. It was okay to deceive if it saved lives.

"Well?!" Matt was ready to render more blows but he let go as Tai's face fell and he lost the urge to retaliate. "You're right," Tai mumbled, "It's - it's my fault."

Kari tried to intervene. "Onii-chan - "

More people. Sora, Izzy, Mimi and Joe. Everyone was here now. Sora stepped into the awkward silence of the room, "Kari, you okay?" before she noticed the palpable tension between a furious Matt, his arms folded and back turned at them, and a worried Tai, sitting on the floor against the wall, lost in thought. She dared to question, "What's going on?"

After a split-second of even more awkwardness, T.K decided to answer, "Matt thinks someone has been following them and might've been led to this place."


End file.
